1. Technical Field
The invention pertains to a process, installation and device for enriching ventilation or air-conditioning air with aromatic substances.
2. Background Art
The addition of fragrances into ventilation or air-conditioning air by spraying of a fine mist is known, in order to create a pleasant aroma in the artificially ventilated or air-conditioned room. This method has the disadvantage that a permanent spraying is not feasible for various reasons, and a timed or interval operation of the spraying of fragrances can lead to tangible fluctuations in fragrance concentration in the artificially ventilated or air-conditioned area.
From DE 12 65 953 B a humidifier for air-conditioning systems is known, where the air flow to be moistened is directed onto the liquid surface of a water droplet catch vessel and a nozzle spraying the humidifying water into the air stream is directed above the sloped air stream at a slant to the water surface. This known humidifying device has the above-mentioned disadvantages of water spraying and, in addition, is intended primarily for humidifying purposes and not for the addition of fragrances.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,841 a device is known for the circulation of air under simultaneous enrichment with a fragrance, where a vessel holding the fragrance is connected to a channel with flowing circulating air (by the use of an inlet and an outlet valve), so that the circulating air (with valves opened) is fed as a whole through the vessel holding the fragrance, while with the valves closed, the flow channel for the circulating air will also be interrupted by the double seat valve for additional fluid flow. The disadvantage of this known device consists in the fact that it does not allow a permanent ventilation or air-conditioning, since the air flow is interrupted periodically. In addition, the forced circulation of the air through the vessel holding the fragrance leads to a far greater enrichment of the air flow with fragrance, which is perceived as unpleasant by persons using the room ventilated in this way-in particular in connection with the merely cyclical operation of the device. Since this known device must rely on the use of double seat valves in order to prevent evaporation of the relatively fast evaporating fragrance during periods of interrupted air circulation, it is also not possible to use this device in another manner than per the on/off cycle principle. Of course, this publication mentions the possibility that double seat valves will open not only entirely, but also partly, or that the fan air stream can be varied, but these possibilities do not mean that the evaporation of the fragrance will be retarded in this manner. Rather, the result of these kinds of attempts to retard the circulating air flow will be that the same quantity of air unit will be put out and that merely the air flow transporting the fragrance is weaker. Due to measures of this type, the concentration of fragrance will increase even more, which is not desirable.
From DE-GM 16 74 979 an air-conditioning system is known for the improvement of room air, where again, nozzles are used in order to add a liquid to the air-conditioning air, which has the property to absorb odorous and pungent substances present in the air-conditioning air. This known air-conditioning system has at its core the same disadvantages as those of the device described in conjunction with DE 12 65 953 B.